Colombia’s top anti-corruption prosecutor was indicted in the United States after DEA agents in Miami recorded him agreeing to take bribes to subvert investigations in the U.S. and Colombia.
Luis Gustavo Moreno Rivera, 35, was charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money in order to promote foreign bribery.
Moreno was arrested in Colombia last week.
He’s the director of the national anti-corruption unit in the attorney general’s office.
Moreno is being held at La Picota prison in Bogota pending his extradition to the United States. He was arrested in Colombia after Interpol issued a red notice for him.
U.S. prosecutors said he agreed in June to take $132,000 in cash to discredit a witnesses in a case before the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS case involved an investigation into the governor of a state in Colombia.
The indictment said U.S. DEA agents found some of the bribe money on Moreno and his wife when they were traveling back to Colombia on June 19.
The Colombian governor in the case has been identified by news sources as Alejandro Lyons Muskus of Córdoba. He was charged this year in Colombia with embezzlement.
Lyons’ undercover cooperation with U.S. authorities reportedly led to Moreno’s indictment.
The New York Times said the former governor agreed to wear a wire when he met with Moreno in Miami.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
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